High availability scalable multi-source virtualized spectrum signal processing system

Abstract

A scalable signal processing system is disclosed that processes digitized spectrum received from a constellation of satellites (or other sources), extracting multiple digital signals from multiple sources through multiple acquisition sites that is virtualized with high availability. A system of one or more antennas can receive a range of frequencies of raw spectrum covering multiple visible orbit planes, where a single antenna can receive signals from multiple satellite concurrently. This can be particularly useful when establishing a constellation satellites, where a number of satellites can be grouped together within an antenna's field of view. A group of digitizers receive the signals from the antennas and creates raw samples to form a spectrum sample pool. The spectrum sample pool is stored in a raw frame archive, where the digitizers and raw frame archive can be co-located and can also be co-located with one or more of the antennas.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A system, comprising:
 an antenna configured to monitor a signal of a raw spectrum window within a field of view of the antenna, the signal of the raw spectrum window including an analog signal from each of a plurality of satellites concurrently within the field of view, each of the satellites transmitting an analog signal having a different, distinct center frequency within the raw spectrum window; 
 one or more digitizers configured to:
 receive from the antenna the signal of the raw spectrum window, the signal of the raw spectrum window including a composite of the plurality of analog signals from each of the satellites concurrently within the field of view; 
 digitize the signal of the raw spectrum window; and 
 form the digitized signal of the raw spectrum window into frames; 
 
 a first memory configured to store the digitized signal of the raw spectrum window as frames; 
 one or more processors each configured to:
 access the frames of the digitized signal of the raw spectrum window from the one or more digitizers and from the first memory; 
 process the frames of the digitized signal of the raw spectrum window in parallel; 
 extract a plurality of independent signals from the digitized signal of the raw spectrum window, each of the independent signals corresponding to one of the distinct center frequencies; and 
 form the plurality of independent signals into processed frames; 
 
 a second memory configured to store the processed frames; and 
 an output interface configured to selectively supply the processed frames of the independent signals from the one or more processors and the second memory to one or more content receivers in response to a corresponding request from the one or more content receivers. 
 
     
     
       2. The system of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more digitizers and the first memory are co-located. 
     
     
       3. The system of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to process the plurality of independent signals to extract trajectory data for the plurality of satellites. 
     
     
       4. The system of  claim 1 , wherein the antenna, the one or more digitizers and the first memory are co-located. 
     
     
       5. The system of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors includes one or more redundant processors and a management section configured to replace a faulty processor with a redundant processor to continue to process the plurality of independent signals into processed frames. 
     
     
       6. The system of  claim 1 , wherein the output interface is configured to encrypt the processed frames prior to supplying the processed frames to the one or more content receivers. 
     
     
       7. The system of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to perform further processing on the raw frames using the processed frames, and to store the further processed frames in the second memory. 
     
     
       8. The system of  claim 1 , wherein one or more of the processors are implemented as replicated virtual machines. 
     
     
       9. A method, comprising:
 monitoring by an antenna a signal of a raw spectrum window within a field of view of the antenna, the signal of the raw spectrum window including an analog signal from each of a plurality of satellites concurrently within the field of view, each of the satellites transmitting an analog signal having a different, distinct center frequency within the raw spectrum window; 
 receiving the signal of the raw spectrum window, the signal of the raw spectrum window including a composite of the plurality of analog signals from each of the satellites concurrently within the field of view at one or more digitizers; 
 digitizing the signal of the raw spectrum window by the one or more digitizers; 
 forming the digitized signal of the raw spectrum window into frames; 
 storing the digitized signal of the raw spectrum window in a first memory; 
 processing the digitized signal of the raw spectrum window in a plurality of processors in parallel, the processing including:
 extracting a plurality of independent signals from the digitized signal of the raw spectrum window, each of the independent signals corresponding to one of the distinct center frequencies; and 
 processing the plurality of independent signals; 
 
 forming the processed independent signals into frames; 
 storing the processed independent signals in a second memory, wherein the second memory stores the processed independent signals as processed frames; and 
 selectively supplying the processed independent signals from the processors and the second memory to one or more content receivers, wherein the processed independent signals are selectively supplied in response to a request from one or more of the content receivers. 
 
     
     
       10. The method of  claim 9 , wherein processing the plurality of independent signals includes:
 extracting trajectory data for the plurality of satellites. 
 
     
     
       11. The method of  claim 9 , wherein processing the plurality of independent signals includes:
 extracting health data for the plurality of satellites. 
 
     
     
       12. The method of  claim 9 , further comprising:
 while processing the composite signal of raw spectrum samples, detecting a fault in one of the plurality of processors; and 
 in response to detecting the fault in one of the plurality of processors, replacing the faulty processor with a redundant processor while continuing to process the plurality of independent signals. 
 
     
     
       13. The method of  claim 9 , further comprising:
 encrypting the processed independent signals prior to selectively supplying the processed independent signals to the one or more content receivers. 
 
     
     
       14. The method of  claim 9 , further comprising:
 subsequent to processing the plurality of independent signals, accessing the digitized composite signal of the raw spectrum window in the first memory; and 
 further processing the composite signal of the raw spectrum window using the processed plurality of independent signals. 
 
     
     
       15. The method of  claim 9 , further comprising:
 configuring one or more virtual machines as the processors. 
 
     
     
       16. An apparatus, comprising:
 a plurality of antennas each configured to monitor a signal of a raw spectrum window within a corresponding field of view of the antenna, the signal of the raw spectrum window including an analog signal from each of a plurality of satellites concurrently within the corresponding field of view, each of the satellites transmitting an analog signal having a different, distinct center frequency within the raw spectrum window; 
 a plurality of digitizers connected to receive the signal of the raw spectrum window within the corresponding fields of view of each of the plurality of antennas, each of the signals of the raw spectrum window including a composite of the plurality of analog signals from each of the satellites concurrently within the corresponding field of view, and generate therefrom digitized raw spectrum samples; and 
 a sample processor, connected to the digitizers, spread across multiple cores and hosts and including virtualization, the sample processor configured to process the digitized raw spectrum samples concurrently in multiple cores to extract and process a plurality of independent data streams from the plurality of independent signals and to output processed frame output from the plurality of independent data streams to applications and databases. 
 
     
     
       17. The apparatus of  claim 16 , further comprising:
 a first memory configured to store digitized raw spectrum samples, the sample processor configured to access and process the digitized raw spectrum samples from the first memory; and 
 a second memory configured to store the processed frame output, the sample processor configured to output the processed frame output from the second memory. 
 
     
     
       18. The method of  claim 9 , wherein the plurality of satellites concurrently within the field of view of the antenna are deployed from a single launch vehicle in a common region. 
     
     
       19. The method of  claim 9 , wherein extracting the plurality of independent signals from the digitized signal of the raw spectrum window includes:
 extracting an independent signal corresponding to a first one of the distinct center frequencies; and 
 using a result of extracting the independent signal corresponding to the first one of the distinct center frequencies, isolating and extracting an independent signal corresponding to a second one of the distinct center frequencies. 
 
     
     
       20. The system of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of satellites concurrently within the field of view of the antenna are deployed from a single launch vehicle in a common region. 
     
     
       21. The system of  claim 1 , wherein, to extract the plurality of independent signals from the digitized signal of the raw spectrum window, the one or more processors are each further configured to:
 extract an independent signal corresponding to a first one of the distinct center frequencies; and 
 using a result of extracting the independent signal corresponding to the first one of the distinct center frequencies, isolate and extract an independent signal corresponding to a second one of the distinct center frequencies.